Reaching For The Stars

September 1859: the night sky suddenly erupts in intense colours as bright as daylight. This aurora, the brightest in history, was due to the interplay between the magnetic fields of the Sun and the Earth. During this pre-electric time, humanity experienced this as a mere light show. But an event of this magnitude would be catastrophic for our technology-dependent world. To mitigate this, we will see how real observations of waves on the Sun can be used to unveil some of the properties needed to understand the magnetic environments that trigger these astonishing but life-threatening events.

Monitoring the Sun is vital to protect Earth's delicate telecommunication network. Hear about how a bunch of students put together a solar telescope to fly with ESA and NASA to the edges of Space. The talk will explain how a telescope at high altitudes can avoid atmospheric distortion of the incoming solar light. It will detail the engineering process the team went through integrating electronics and mechanics together. Listen to funny stories of the team working day and night to achieve something never done before by students!

Core collapse supernovae mark the deaths of the most massive stars in the Universe. They are responsible for release of the elements required for planets to form and life to arise. Join us to learn how stars evolve – and how we can use ghost-like particles called “neutrinos” to watch them become cosmic fireworks!